Holly Springs Is Planting a Tree for Its 150th, and Your Message Could Go in the Time Capsule

In 1901, when the excursion train ran through Holly Springs from Apex to Angier, the town marked the day with "speeches by several prominent men, a big game of base ball, and town lots to be sold at auction." That line sits on the Town's interactive 150th timeline. It's one of the few first-person traces of how this town once celebrated itself.

That record lasted because someone wrote it down. Most of what Holly Springs is doing for its 150th will be remembered the usual way, as photos of familiar events. Saturday, November 14 is different. That morning the Town is asking residents to write directly to whoever comes next.

Most of the anniversary takes place at events you already know

The Holly Springs 150th Celebration is billed as a year-long party. It started at the annual fireworks festival in July 2026 and runs through May 2027. Look down the official events list and you'll see something familiar. Most of the anniversary is the town's regular calendar with something added on top.

HollyFest on October 31 at Sugg Farm advertised "a few 150th anniversary surprises." Light the Springs, the holiday kickoff, has "Special 150th Anniversary Elements" in its listing title. Spring Fling at NMAC promises "special 150th-themed surprises." Those are still good reasons to go. But the anniversary decorates them. It doesn't change what they are.

Two items on the list don't follow that pattern. Black Expressions adds a 150th-themed performance on February 19 about the ways Black leaders have shaped Holly Springs. The other is the tree planting, and it's the only event where residents put something in.

What happens at Sugg Farm on November 14

At 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 14, the Town will plant an American sycamore more than 14 feet tall at Sugg Farm, near the RC Field, at 2401 Grigsby Ave. The Town's event listing describes the participation part this way:

"Be part of history by writing a message to the future and posing for a community photo. Both could be preserved in a time capsule planned to be buried nearby next year, sharing Town history and the community's lasting commitment to future generations!"

Pay attention to the wording. The messages "could be" kept, and the capsule is "planned" for burial next year. No burial date has been published. The planting date and the message writing are fixed. What happens to the messages afterward depends on a capsule that hasn't been buried yet.

Here's what that means for a resident deciding whether to spend a Saturday morning there:

1. Show up by 11 a.m. The ceremony is scheduled for that hour, and the community photo is part of the event.
2. Know what you'll write before you get there. A message to the future is easier to write if you've thought about which part of Holly Springs in 2026 you'd want a reader decades from now to know about.
3. Bring the kids if they're old enough to write a line. Nothing in the listing limits who can write a message.
4. Keep the planting itself in mind. A 14-foot sycamore at Sugg Farm will be the one permanent marker of this anniversary you can walk back to on any ordinary day.

A farm the Town agreed to buy nearly 14 years ago is now part of the record

Holding the ceremony at Sugg Farm fits the history the town is celebrating. At its December 4, 2012 meeting, the Holly Springs Town Council approved a $1 million contract to buy the Jefferson Sugg Trust property. The minutes describe it as an approximately 117-acre former working farm at the end of Grigsby Avenue, next to Bass Lake Park. The 150th timeline lists that 2012 purchase among the moments that defined the town.

The 150th site's Sugg Farm page credits Jefferson L. Sugg as "a developer with a vision." It lists what the land holds now: a dog park, a sensory trail and nature play area, a community garden, an archery field, large event fields, and greenway access to Bass Lake. So a 150th tree is going into ground the Town agreed to buy nearly 14 years ago. It sits beside trails and fields that plenty of families already use without thinking of them as historic.

The town's actual birthday falls in the middle of the celebration

Ask when Holly Springs was founded and you can get two answers, and both are correct. The timeline says Col. George Benton Alford submitted the incorporation papers to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1876, and that year is on the Town seal. Holly Springs officially became a town when the General Assembly ratified those papers on January 26, 1877, and a post office opened that May. The Town's archival history makes the same distinction between the 1876 charter request and the 1877 ratification.

That split explains why the celebration runs across two calendar years, from July 2026 to May 2027. The 150th anniversary of ratification, January 26, 2027, lands about halfway through.

The history behind the name is close to home too. According to the Town history, Archibald Leslie, a Scottish tailor, opened a tailoring business and store around 1817 and began building a large house near the springs around 1840. Alford arrived in 1875, moved his mercantile business to Holly Springs, and led the push to incorporate. The National Register nomination for the Leslie-Alford-Mims House dates the house to around 1840 and says Alford bought it in 1876, the same year he filed the town's papers. It names five springs on the property as the source of the town's name. The Town's own history ties the name to fresh-water springs with holly trees around them.

One man bought the house by the springs and asked the state to make the place a town, both in 1876. One hundred fifty years later, the Town is asking everyone who lives here now to add a line to the record.

The rest of the season, in order

The tree planting is the anchor for November, but several dates around it are worth having on your calendar. This list starts with the day after this post goes up.

The 150th events page describes Light the Springs as an evening of live music, food and drinks, and free holiday crafts. It opens with the menorah lighting and closes with the tree lighting. For the Birthday Bash, the Town promises "the biggest birthday bash in Town history." It says downtown will become festival grounds with performances, local artisans, food trucks, and a show at the end that will light up the night sky. Dates are listed as coming soon.

If you'd like lunch after the planting, WRAL reported in October that Limra Mediterranean Restaurant is open at 3109 McChesney Hill Loop in Peterson Station, serving halal Mediterranean food. The same report said Malli, Indian Reimagined, was aiming to open this fall at 131 Oakview Commons Drive, without giving a date.

Crumpler Realty Group works in Holly Springs every week, and we'll be watching for the Town to set a burial date for the time capsule. If you'd like a note when that date is announced, or you just want to talk about the town you're helping record this year, book a free consultation with our team.